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blog:models_mak_fledermaus [2021/08/04 14:24] – [Panzer Kampf Flugzeug 40 'Fledermaus'] johnblog:models_mak_fledermaus [2022/10/13 09:01] (current) – [In-Progress Images] john
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   * Kit type: Multimedia kit (plastic, rubber piping, brass, etc), fixed pose (no real moving parts)   * Kit type: Multimedia kit (plastic, rubber piping, brass, etc), fixed pose (no real moving parts)
   * In-universe role: Aircraft, //Strahl Democratic Republic// or can be built as //Mercenary forces// variant   * In-universe role: Aircraft, //Strahl Democratic Republic// or can be built as //Mercenary forces// variant
-  * Build date: ???+  * Build date: October 2022
  
 This is a 20+ year old kit that I bought from Yahoo Auctions Japan (via [[http://www.buyee.com|Buyee.com]]) in August 2021. Finding one is pretty rare, since they've been out of print for over 20 years and no-one (Wave, Hasegawa, etc) seems to have made a modern reprint of the design. This is a 20+ year old kit that I bought from Yahoo Auctions Japan (via [[http://www.buyee.com|Buyee.com]]) in August 2021. Finding one is pretty rare, since they've been out of print for over 20 years and no-one (Wave, Hasegawa, etc) seems to have made a modern reprint of the design.
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 {{:blog:models:fledermaus-box-art_orig.jpg?500|}} {{:blog:models:fm-w042.jpg?500|}} {{:blog:models:fledermaus-box-art_orig.jpg?500|}} {{:blog:models:fm-w042.jpg?500|}}
-===== Background ===== 
  
 ===== Tools Used ===== ===== Tools Used =====
  
 +   * Mr Hobby snips
 +   * Badger ultimate sanding sticks
 +   * Tamiya extra thin cement
 ===== Colours Used ===== ===== Colours Used =====
 +
 +===== Background =====
 +
 +The //Fledermaus//, or //Bat//, is one of the few dedicated flying vehicles in Maschinen Krieger; most being either armoured suits adapted for flight, or hover/anti-gravity vehicles.
 +
 +In the lore, the Fledermaus was an early design that the //Strahl Democratic Republic// used to great effect when suppressing the colonists of Earth in the beginning of the war. I suppose as time went on, it was surpassed by dedicated anti-gravity vehicles like the //Falke//, and flight-capable armoured suits which didn't exist when it was introduced.
 +
 +From an aesthetics perspective the //Fledermaus// definitely looks like a thrown-together design; it doesn't have much in the way of armour, the cockpit is cramped and the landing gear and propulsion system is all exposed. In a lot of ways that makes it seem like a much more plausible design!
 +
 +I picked up the kit from my favourite haunt on Buyee.com in mid 2021, having been an out-of-print kit for over 20 years. Oddly, the //Fledermaus// is not a kit that Hasegawa has reproduced alongside their other modern remakes of the old Ma.K designs. You would think that with their aircraft model experience they would have produced a modern version - perhaps the old dies were lost?
 +
 +===== Box Contents =====
 +
 +Contents:
 +
 +   * Instruction manual
 +   * 2x Painting guides / info cards (one for the //SDR P.K. 40 Fledermaus// variant, one for the //Mercenary J40S// variant)
 +   * 1x Waterslide decal sheet (with seperate decals for each variant)
 +   * 6x Parts sprues
 +     * (unlabelled), beige, fuselage
 +     * (unlabelled), clear, sensor covers
 +     * a (Hornisse), beige, landing struts etc
 +     * b (Hornisse), beige, thrusters & engine parts 
 +     * c (P.K 40), beige, cockpit, guns etc
 +     * d (P.K 40), clear canopy parts
 +     * Figure, beige
 +   * 1x Bag of multimedia parts (flexible tubing, copper rod, brass mesh)
 +
 +Box artwork:
 +
 +{{:blog:models:img20210813165943.jpg?400|}} {{:blog:models:img20210813165950.jpg?400|}} {{:blog:models:img20210813165958.jpg?400|}} 
 +
 +{{:blog:models:img20210813170004.jpg?400|}} {{:blog:models:img20210813170016.jpg?400|}} 
 +
 +Instruction manual:
 +
 +{{:blog:models:img20210813170047.jpg?400|}} {{:blog:models:img20210813170059.jpg?400|}}
 +
 +Painting guide (x2):
 +
 +{{:blog:models:img20210813170124.jpg?400|}} {{:blog:models:img20210813170135.jpg?400|}} 
 +
 +Main fuselage and clear canopy/sensor parts:
 +
 +{{:blog:models:img20210813170210.jpg?400|}} {{:blog:models:img20210813170248.jpg?400|}} {{:blog:models:img20210813170255.jpg?400|}}
 +
 +Thrusters, landing struts and detail parts:
 +
 +{{:blog:models:img20210813170338.jpg?400|}} {{:blog:models:img20210813170357.jpg?400|}} {{:blog:models:img20210813170443.jpg?400|}}
 +
 +Seated pilot figure:
 +
 +{{:blog:models:img20210813170455.jpg?400|}}
 +
 +Multimedia parts:
 +
 +{{:blog:models:img20210813170222.jpg?400|}}
  
 ===== In-Progress Images ===== ===== In-Progress Images =====
 +
 +**[October 2022]** - Started building the Fledermaus kit. There's definitely bits and pieces of this that make it obvious it is a (relatively) ancient kit - parts which don't line up exactly, and things which you wouldn't do in a modern kit (needing the entire interior glued in place before the upper and lower wings can be put in place.
 +
 +That said, it's a fairly clean design, and with a bit of thought, goes together relatively easily. Plenty of plastic cement and use of a file is needed on many of the seam lines to tidy them up.
 +
 +Lower and upper fuselage sections, with the cockpit partially completed. This is not according to the build instructions, but I checked and the cockpit interior can still be installed, as long as the upper cockpit canopy is not installed.
 +
 +{{:blog:models:img20221004153100.jpg?400|}} {{:blog:models:img20221004153118.jpg?400|}} {{:blog:models:img20221004153129.jpg?400|}}
 +
 +Interior and the five main thrusters (which are all two-part designs):
 +
 +{{:blog:models:img20221004153146.jpg?400|}} {{:blog:models:img20221004153212.jpg?400|}}
 +
 +Thrusters fixed in place:
 +
 +{{:blog:models:img20221004155532.jpg?400|}} {{:blog:models:img20221004155540.jpg?400|}}
 +
 +Main engine attached to upper fuselage:
 +
 +{{:blog:models:img20221004164853.jpg?400|}}
 +
 +Upper and lower fuselage temporarily in place (I haven't messed it up, thank goodness):
 +
 +{{:blog:models:img20221004165012.jpg?400|}} {{:blog:models:img20221004165021.jpg?400|}}
 +
 +Assembled the pilot figure (minus his hand... which is rolling around my desk somewhere...) and started fitting the additional parts to the fuselage:
 +
 +{{:blog:models:img20221004203239.jpg?400|}} {{:blog:models:img20221004205828.jpg?400|}} {{:blog:models:img20221004210159.jpg?400|}}
 +
 +**[Update 5th October 2022]** - Added 'fuel tanks' to upper fuselage:
 +
 +{{:blog:models:img20221005123833.jpg?400|}}
 +
 +**[Update 9th October 2022]** - Started building front and rear landing gear:
 +
 +{{:blog:models:img20221009195759.jpg?400|}} {{:blog:models:img20221009195818.jpg?400|}}
 +
 +**[Update 12th October 2022]** - Completed landing gear and cutting cockpit canopy to fit:
 +
 + {{:blog:models:img20221012212043.jpg?400|}} {{:blog:models:img20221012212051.jpg?400|}} {{:blog:models:img20221012220245.jpg?400|}} {{:blog:models:img20221012220251.jpg?400|}}
 + 
  • blog/models_mak_fledermaus.1628087075.txt.gz
  • Last modified: 2021/08/04 14:24
  • by john